Acetylene-gas generator.



LEWIS. AGBTYLENE GAS GENERATOR.

` APPLICATION I'ILKED PBB.25, 1911.

Patented Mar. 26, 1912.

WYNDHAM WILLIAM LEWIS', or HIGHGATE, LONDON, ENGLAND.v I

ACETYLENE-GAS 'G nNnnnmon.

. Application filed February 25, 1911. Serial'No. 610,812.

To all w/Lofm it may concerns f ABe it-known that. I, vWivnrnnvr WILLIAM Lnwis, a subject of the King of Great Britain,l residing at 19 Claremont road, Highgate, in 'the countyv of -London,England,

engineer, have inventedce-rtain new ,and useful Improvements 1n `Acetylene- GrasfGrenerators, of which the following is a specification. l f l This invention relates to acetylene generators of the type in which the Water is introduced into the carbid chamber by trans-y piration along an absorbent Wick, and 1s ap-,v

plicable either to the type :of generat-orin whichthe rate ofgeneration of thegas is controlled'by means of a valve regulating the flow of Water to the carbid chamber through a` drip orifice, or tofthatntype in' which the generation of the. gas is cont-rolled automatically by ythe variationof the pressure of the gas vaiying'ytheflevel of `Water in the water reservoir.

' One of the objects of the invention Vis *toV provide a hollow Wick of absorbent material which is adapted to admit t-he free flow of' Water throughoutthe Whole length oft-he carbid chamber .While permitting expansion@ of the 'calcium carbid Within thechainben Another` Objectis to provide forcent-rofl#l ling the admission of Water to the gas generating chamber by the pressure of the generated gas.

Another object is to combine such a/ivickwith the cartridge casing which may be supplied either charged with calcium carbid or uncharged and in a. collapsible form.,` The cartridge may be placed directly Within the generating chamber,y or it may be inserted in a holder or container, Which also forms part of the present invent-ion and which is provided with the necessary openings for the escape of gas.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings as applied to a double generator of the horizontal type, Figure l being a central longitudinal section of such a generator, Fig. 2 a 'side elevation of t-he cartridge casing holder, Fig. 3 a plan view ofthe underside of the holder, Fig. 4 an end elevation looking at the open end'of the holden'Fig. 5 a central transverse section ofa .cartridge casing, Fig. 6 aperspective view of an empty collapsed cartridge casing, Fig. 7 aperspective vie-w of a. cartridge casing ready to receive a charge of calcium carbid1 and Fig. 8 a cross section of a used cart-ridge. showing the Way in which the .l

Specii'zation of LettersPatent, l Patented Ml-l. l26, v1912.

calcium carbid expands While Inaintaining'V al free passage for the Water along th@r Whole length of the cartridge. Figs. 6, 7 and 8N aredravvnon a small 'scale and show the cartridge casing in the inverted posit-ion.

Referring particularly to Fig.lv 1, the Water is containedin a reservoir a. surrounding the gas generating chambers b 'and com# lmunicating*therewith 'through apertures o in the. floors ofthe respective chambers. *The cartridge casing isv in the form ofLarr elongated receptacle dusually of square 'sectionv fitting loosely in the' correspondingly shaped genera-ting chamber and the Wickl e A(Figs. l-and 5) consists of suitable un!y sized ipa-per folded' to cellular shape so as to i' permit it tov collapse under pressure dueto expansion of the carbid. The Wick extendsr substantially coter-minous in y length with`A the lreceptacle dbut occupies only a portion (which may be the central port-ion, as shown in Figs. 5 and 7) of rthewidth of there-f" ceptacle d. -Thiswick is fastened along two opposite sides of. the cartridge casing, for example, along the top and thebottom, and' -may consist simply of a sheet of unsized samer. mate-rial but yofy considerably' paper foldedto form aniopen-endedparallength, is folded on itself, and the two ends passed through a longitudinal slit in the i floor of the cartridgecasing (land turned outwardly under the lowerside of the .paral-l lelepiped so asto be lin contact therewith'.

The loop projecting through the slit in the under side of the cartridge casing is then f opened out and refolded so as to lie flat against the outer side of the cartridge casing` and the inner side bf the gas 'generating chamber. The Wick e, e', is designed so that it may be collapsed or folded fiat fortrans port purposes, or by means of end aps al, (Fig. 7), can be held substantially rigid in the open or expanded position?.

The cartridge may beiinserted' directlyv into the generating chamberf o, but it may be placed in a holder f adapted to tit the generating chamber and provided with openings f forthe escape of gas, and a longitudinal slit f2 for the accommodation of the flap e of the Wick e. When the gen-A I erator as shown in IFig. l is of the type in which the admission of Water to the carbid chamber is controlled by the pressure inside of the gas generator, excess generationof gas produces a pressure which tends to close the flap e over the aperture c lin the bottom of the generating chamber b so as to retard the flow of water to the wick e and thus reduce the rate of gerenation of the gas.

To eliminate the danger of the flap e of the wick being torn off in inserting the cartridge container in the generating chamber Z), the Hoor of the latter is recessed as shown at ZJ to provide suflicientclearance ,for the flap c when the container is in serted in they carbid chamber. Water may be ed'into the reservoir a through the opening j which is provided with a cap lc. To charge the chamber Z) the lid Z is released, the stopper `m, it' there be one, removed, the cartridge, with or without holders, placed within ,the chambers and the stopper and lid replaced. The generated, on the admission of water, passes out of the chambers 7) through outlet n.

In order that the Water may be completely shut off from the generating chamber, there is provided below the aperture c through which the water enters a second aperture g forming the seating of the valve L, which is 'accommodated betweenv the two apertures and which can be actuated through suitable mechanism. For instance, the valve may be carried by a frame t placed around the chamber b, with clearance to allow the frame to be moved relatively to the chamber, then by means of a lever or thumb-screw z' outside the casing of the generator the frame t and valve' /L may be raised and water admitted through openings gf and c and Wick e ,to the interior of the generating chamber t; Or the valve z, may be forced down onto its seating to cut off completely access of water from the reservoir a to the interior of the generating chamber Z2.

Fig. 8 is a drawing of an actual spent cartridge, and clearly shows two longitudinal passages at the upper and lower sides of the cartridge through which water from thereservoir a has free access to the whole of the carbid even when the latter is completely spent.

I claim as my inventtion:

l. In acetylene gas generators, a receptacle adapted to contain carbid and a hollow Iabsorbent wick folded to form an openended parallelepiped adapted to collapse under pressure of the expanding carbid.

2. In acetylene generators, the combination-of a water reservo-ir, a receptacle for calcium carbid communicating with the reservoir, a hollow Wick of absorbent material within the receptacle adapted to collapse under pressure of the expanding carbid and to provide ,for the free flow of Water to the carbid throughout its length.

3. In acetylene generators, the combina tion of a water reservoir, a receptacle for calcium carbid communicating with the reservoir, a hollow wick of absorbent material positioned within the receptacle and adapt ed to collapse under pressure of the expanding carbid, and means for automatically controlling the flow of water from the res- `ervoir to the Wick by the pressure of the gas within the receptacle.

4. In acetylene generators, the combination of a Water reservoir, a chamber com municating with the reservoir, a holder having openings for the escape of gas and admission of water and adapted to tit the "chamber, a casing within the holder'and containing calcium carbid and a hollow Wick adapted to collapse under pressure of the expanding carbid and means for automatically controlling the flow of water from the reservoir to the wick by the pressure of gas within the casing.

In testimony whereof I `have signed my name to this specification in the presence of twb subscribing witnesses.

WYNDHAM WILLIAM LEWIS.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH MILLARD,

VALTER J. SKERTEN. 

